Gratitude is a powerful practice. The benefits of daily gratitude practice can be seen in the quality of your sleep, developing a positive outlook and as a tool to help combat stress and depression.
Finding things to be grateful for
When life is going well, there's no shortage of positive things to dwell on. When things are not going so well, the brain can be easily tricked into seeing doom and gloom everywhere you go. Finding things to be grateful for may not be so easy at these times, but they are there. Chances are, they're also the things that you've taken for granted for years.
It's sometimes the simple things that bring us the most joy:
- Clean sheets and a warm bed
- A hot cup of tea and a book on a cold day
- A hug from a loved one
- Coffee with a friend (or just coffee, that's good too)
- A smile from a neighbour
While gratitude practice is valuable at any time, building it into your daily routine increases its impact.
Good things accumulate
The positives quickly stack up, but they're also easily forgotten. Catch up with a friend you haven't seen for a while and notice what dominates your conversation. It's rarely an accumulation of the small joys of life that are celebrated. More regularly, the conversation turns to the recent chaos and disaster stories. Our brain automatically seeks them out - they seem to be infinitely more memorable.
Regular recording of the things we appreciate and are grateful for are a good reminder of the general positives of our lives. It can be easy to look back on a particularly tough week and recall doom, gloom, stress and overwhelm. By recording positive experiences daily, we can more easily remind ourselves that there is more to our experiences in the past week than the tiredness they produced, and with enough time, retrain our brain to seek positivity.
Daily Journalling, I'd call that a win
Daily gratitude practise is something I've valued for a long time. I introduced it at a low time in my life. The impact reflecting on the positives in my day had on my mental wellbeing was enormous, so it's remained a regular practice even now that (almost) everything is going well.
It's probably no surprise that a small section of every daily space in the Lemonade Planner has been dedicated to recording positive daily occurrences, although it comes with the label 'WINS'.
Gratitude is habitual
It's best to incorporate gratitude practice into your daily habits. It's far easier to find the positive in life when it's a routine part of your day. Decide when is the best time for you to tackle it and add it to your Regular Tasks list.
The morning routine
If you find the mornings slow to start, why not add a gratitude reminder to your morning routine? It can be a great way to get yourself motivated to start the day, especially teamed with a tea or coffee. A quick run-through of the things you have on your side while you navigate the day to come never goes astray.
The evening routine
If your mind works overtime in the evenings, perhaps a nighttime gratitude routine will work better for you. A reminder of some things that are going your way, or things that provide comfort and security to you before you sleep can put you in a better frame of mind to rest and relax your body.
Try a little of each
For some people, both work well - so why not do both? There's nothing stopping you from incorporating morning and evening practice into your day. You might need a little more space if you intend to put a lot of focus on your wins, so the Dotted Grid layout might be the best spot to record everything you're grateful for.
Give it a go
With nothing ventured, nothing gained, it seems like the perfect time to start recording your wins and scheduling in some time to reflect on what you're grateful for.
If you don't have a Lemonade Planner yet, you can use the free page downloads to try it out.
Focus On The Wins With Gratitude Practice